There is no ill blood between these American Idol champions.
Kelly Clarkson put an end to any speculation that she and Carrie Underwood were having problems with one another during an appearance that she made on Watch What Happens Live on Tuesday. Clarkson, who won the first season of American Idol, wanted to know why people felt there was a conflict between her and Underwood, who won the second season of the competition. Underwood is 40 years old.
Clarkson, who is 41 years old, was quoted as saying, “We don’t even know each other well enough to be pitted against [each other].” We’ve only bumped into each other a few times, but there’s no bad blood between us at all. Nothing will come between us since we are not familiar with one another. We have quite literally come across each other on many occasions.
The member of the virtual audience who asked the question was stopped short by the “Breakaway” singer’s answer, and presenter Andy Cohen urged them to complete their question when Clarkson was done. The next question that was asked by the caller was, “What was your favorite part of having her as a guest on your talk show?”
After hearing the whole question, Clarkson chuckled, strolled over to the bar, and offered a brief “cheers” to the evening’s bartender, Rob Anderson, before saying, “Look, everyone always asks me the pitted-against-each-other question.”
She went on to say, “It was really amazing! Her appearance on the program was very well appreciated. My opinion is that one of the things that made it interesting was the fact that everyone constantly tries to set us against one other, and I have no idea why they do that. That kind of thing doesn’t happen with males. They exclusively carry out this practice on ladies. And I’m thinking to myself, we don’t even know one other well enough to be able to do anything like that. But I believe… It would be wonderful if she could be there in person! It occurred during COVID, which means that it took place over Zoom; this is not a problem, although it would be awesome if it did.”
Later on in the evening, Cohen played the legendary game “Plead the Fifth” with Clarkson, which transported her right back to her origins on American Idol. Cohen posed the following question as the second of his three inquiries: “Can you name an American Idol winner from the last five years?”
Clarkson’s answer was a hasty “oh s—,” after which she waited a moment to reply and then made an educated estimate. In the end, she was unable to recognize any of the competition’s most recent winners. The show was relaunched in 2018 with Katy Perry, Luke Bryan, and Lionel Richie serving as judges.